Jehovah v. Clarke
| Citation | 798 F.3d 169 |
| Decision Date | 09 July 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. 13–7529.,13–7529. |
| Parties | Jesus Emmanuel JEHOVAH, a/k/a Robert Gabriel Love, a/k/a Gabriel Alexander Antonio, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Harold W. CLARKE, Director; A. David Robinson, Deputy Director, Defendants–Appellees, and Commonwealth of Virginia; Loretta K. Kelly, Warden, Sussex I State Prison; All Employees of the Virginia Department of Corrections, In their Official, Individual, and Private Capacities, Jointly and Severally; Eddie L. Pearson, Warden; Keisha Fowlkes, Unit Manager; Ms. Evans, Records Officer; Ms. Ansah, Corporal; Armor Correctional Health Services, Inc.; Anthony King, Dr.; Mesele Gebreyes, Dr.; Benjamin Ulep, Dr., Defendants. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit) |
ARGUED:Lola Abbas Kingo, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Trevor Stephen Cox, Office of the Attorney General of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellees. ON BRIEF:Steven H. Goldblatt, Director, Clay Greenberg, Student Counsel, Elizabeth Purcell, Student Counsel, Appellate Litigation Program, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Mark R. Herring, Attorney General of Virginia, Cynthia E. Hudson, Chief Deputy Attorney General, Linda L. Bryant, Deputy Attorney General, Public Safety & Enforcement, Richard C. Vorhis, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Kate E. Dwyre, Assistant Attorney General, Stuart A. Raphael, Solicitor General of Virginia, Office of the Attorney General of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellees.
Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and GREGORY and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.
Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge GREGORY wrote the opinion, in which Chief Judge TRAXLER and Judge FLOYD joined.
Inmate Jesus Emmanuel Jehovah appeals from the district court's dismissal of his pro se claims against the Commonwealth of Virginia and various employees and contractors of the Virginia Department of Corrections (“VDOC”). Jehovah claims that Appellees violated his free exercise rights under the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”) by a) prohibiting him from consuming wine during communion, b) requiring him to work on Sabbath days, and c) assigning him non-Christian cellmates. Jehovah also alleges that Appellees demonstrated deliberate indifference to his medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The district court dismissed sua sponte Jehovah's Sabbath claims, cell assignment claims, and deliberate indifference claim, and granted Appellees summary judgment on the communion wine claim. We reverse the district court's judgment in its entirety and remand for further proceedings.
Jehovah is a VDOC inmate who was incarcerated at Sussex I Prison (“SIP”) in Waverly, Virginia when he filed this lawsuit. In his pro se complaint, he alleges four courses of action taken by VDOC employees that he claims violated his rights under RLUIPA and the First and Eighth Amendments.
First, Jehovah claims that various policies have prevented him from taking communion in the manner required by his religious beliefs. Jehovah's religion1 mandates that he take communion by drinking red wine and consuming bread dipped in honey, olive oil, sugar, cinnamon, and water. While he was incarcerated at Nottoway Correctional Center (“NCC”) from September 2009 to March 2010, Jehovah was not permitted to take communion at all pursuant to a memorandum prohibiting the practice for inmates in segregation. In April 2010, Jehovah was transferred to SIP and placed in the general population. Jehovah requested permission from the warden to take communion but did not receive a response, so he filed a grievance. In January 2011, while Jehovah's grievance was pending, VDOC issued a new policy prohibiting all inmates from consuming wine during communion. Jehovah filed another grievance, which VDOC denied. VDOC revised its policy in January 2012 to allow inmates to consume bread dipped in wine but not to drink wine. Jehovah filed a third grievance, which was also denied. In December 2012, VDOC changed its policy yet again to ban inmates from consuming communion wine by any method.2
Second, Jehovah asserts that he has been unable to secure a job that will allow him to observe his Sabbaths. Jehovah's faith prohibits him from working during the “Old Jewish Sabbath” (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown) or the “New Christic Sabbath” (Saturday at sunset to Monday at sunrise).3 VDOC requires inmates to participate in programming—including work and educational activities—for a certain number of hours per week in order to be eligible for good conduct allowances and earned sentence credits. See Va.Code § 53.1–32.1. In February 2011 Jehovah was assigned to a cleaning position, and his supervisor required him to work seven days a week. Jehovah requested that VDOC accommodate his observance of the Sabbaths, but VDOC refused, informing him that his failure to work could lead to sanctions. He filed a grievance, which VDOC denied. VDOC staff has not approved him for any job for which he has applied since December 2011, including jobs for which they had previously approved him.4 According to Jehovah, “there are few prison jobs available to him at SIP and other prisons which he can work and keep observing the Sabbaths.” J.A. 27 (Compl. ¶ 32).
Third, Jehovah states that VDOC has housed him with “people who are anti-Christian and unbelievers,” contrary to his religious beliefs. J.A. 28 (Compl. ¶ 34). Jehovah “is directed by God not to be yoked to unbelievers.” J.A. 28 (Compl. ¶ 34). At one point Jehovah was housed with a “self-proclaimed Satanist and anti-Christian,” even though VDOC knew of Jehovah's religious views. J.A. 28 (Compl. ¶ 35). This inmate harassed Jehovah and subjected him to “anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-God ... rhetoric.” J.A. 28 (Compl. ¶ 35). After several requests to be reassigned, Jehovah filed a grievance to which VDOC never responded. Since July 2011, Jehovah has been assigned to live with “an atheist, an agnostic, a worldly Muslim, a false/non-practicing insincere Christian, a racist black anti-Christian atheist, a self-proclaimed ‘Hell's Angel’ biker, and a black anti-Christian from an anti-white gang.” J.A. 29 (Compl. n.18). Other VDOC prisons had been able to accommodate Jehovah's requests to be housed only with Christians.
Finally, Jehovah alleges that he has suffered various medical ailments that VDOC medical staff have deliberately ignored. In 2009 while incarcerated at NCC, Jehovah experienced, among other things, tongue lesions, chest and throat pain, difficulty swallowing, coughing, nausea, lethargy, and unexplained weight loss. After medical staff at NCC “detected and acknowledged” Jehovah's symptoms but before they could diagnose them, Jehovah was transferred to SIP on March 26, 2010. J.A. 30 (Compl. ¶ 43). Jehovah developed further symptoms after arriving at SIP, and after testing negative for strep throat
he was referred to Dr. King. On April 15, 2010, Dr. King examined Jehovah for the first time. He found holes in Jehovah's tonsils but “did not acknowledge” any of Jehovah's other symptoms; he ordered a test for HIV
, which was negative, and then did not provide any further care. J.A. 30 (Compl. ¶ 45). Jehovah's symptoms worsened, and he sought additional treatment from Dr. King on June 17, 2010. Dr. King ignored all of Jehovah's symptoms except his coughing, neck lesion, and nasal drip.5 Dr. King ordered a chest x-ray and urine and blood tests : the x-ray appeared normal but the urine and blood tests revealed abnormalities consistent with infection. Jehovah maintains Dr. King ignored these results and provided no further treatment. Jehovah saw Dr. King again on July 30, 2010, and Dr. King referred him to mental health staff, who ultimately determined that he had no psychological problems. Jehovah's condition continued to deteriorate.6 When Jehovah next saw Dr. King on August 30, 2010, Dr. King “disregarded most” of his symptoms and treated him for gastroesophageal reflux disease with Prilosec, which made many of Jehovah's symptoms worse. J.A. 31 (Compl. ¶ 48). Dr. King also referred Jehovah to mental health staff again to be evaluated for bipolar disorder, of which staff found no symptoms. This pattern continued into 2012, with Dr. King and other VDOC doctors allegedly acknowledging only some of Jehovah's symptoms, ignoring test results indicating infection, and failing to improve Jehovah's condition.7
Jehovah filed this lawsuit on July 11, 2012, seeking compensatory and injunctive relief for these alleged violations of RLUIPA, the First Amendment, and the Eighth Amendment. On September 27, 2012, the district court sua sponte dismissed all of Jehovah's claims except his communion claim pursuant to the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”), 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. Appellees moved to dismiss the remaining claim on December 21, 2012. In support of their motion they submitted a declaration from VDOC Chief of Corrections Operations A. David Robinson discussing the purposes of the wine ban. Jehovah responded with numerous discovery requests to which Appellees responded in part and otherwise objected. He then filed a motion to compel discovery and to hold an evidentiary hearing, which the district court denied on May 17, 2013. On August 20, 2013, the court granted Appellees' summary judgment motion and dismissed Jehovah's RLUIPA and First Amendment claims regarding the communion wine ban. Jehovah timely appealed the dismissal of all his claims.
On appeal, Jehovah argues that the district court erred in 1) dismissing his Sabbath, cell assignment, and deliberate indifference claims under § 1915A, and 2) granting Appellees summary judgment on his communion wine claim.
We review de novo a § 1915A dismissal for failure to state a claim. Slade v. Hampton Roads Reg'l Jail, 407 F.3d 243, 248 (4th Cir.2005). Dismissal is proper only if the plaintiff has...
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